MEDIATING EEFECT OF RESOURCE UTILIZATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMPLEMENTATION LEARNING STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN KENYAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Students’ academic performance is a major concern in every institution of higher learning be it in the west or in the developing countries and it is the concern of higher education institutions to see that their students perform according to the required standard and a competitive advantage. The study focused on determining the mediating role of resource utilization on the association between implementation of learning strategies and academic performance of students in Kenyan public universities. The objectives of this study were to; determine the effect of student-centred learning, social support, technology innovation and teacher-centred learning on academic performance of students and determine the mediating effects of resource utilization on the relationship between implementation of learning strategies and students’ academic performance. The study was guided by three theories; Systems theory, Warlberg’s theory and implementation theory. The study adopted an explanatory research design with a target population of 4343 teaching staff from 9 public universities in Kenya. The sample size was 366 lecturers obtained using Taro and Yamane formula. Structured questionnaires were administered to the teaching staff. Cronbach’s α>0.7 was used to test reliability of data and validity determined using expert judgement. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using statistical package for social science. The mediation effect of resource utilization on the relationship between implementation of learning strategies and academic performance of students was tested using a special PROCESS Macro tool developed by Hayes (2013). The mediation model results showed R2=0.4116 and was significant (p<0.000) an indication that implementation of learning strategies predict 41.16% of student performance. The regression of implementation of learning strategies on student performance, ignoring the mediator, was significant, β = .637, t (292) = 14.30, p <.000. The implementation of learning strategies predicts 24.4% of resource utilization. The implementation of learning strategies on the mediator, resource utilization, was significant, β = .798, t (292) = 9.71, p < .000. In the mediation model, resource utilization controlling for implementation of learning strategies was significant having predicted 52.22% of student academic performance. The mediation process showed that the mediator (resource utilization), controlling for implementation of learning strategies, was significant, β = .235, t (291) = 8.21, p < .000. Finally, controlling for the mediator (resource utilization), implementation of learning strategies scores was a significant predictor of student academic performance, β = .449, t (291) = 9.71, p <.000. From the Sobel test there was partial mediation in the model (z = 6.2497, p < .000). The resource utilization partially mediated the relationship between implementation of learning strategies and academic performance of students in Kenyan public universities. Implementation of learning strategies had significant positive relationship with student performance. Resource utilization partially mediated the relationship between implementation of learning strategies and academic performance of students in Kenyan public universities. Since the implementation of learning strategies predict 41.16% of the student performance, there is need for university management to enhance its implementation of learning strategies approaches in order to improve student performance more. The university management should introduce more strategies geared towards enhancing student performance with respect to the available resources.